Kouyate Arts is a Seattle-based authentic traditional African music collective that performed at One Vibe Africa's Madaraka Festival 2016, which featured an all-female lineup for the theme of women's empowerment.

"In 2012, I had the opportunity to visit Kisumu, and see the programs in action firsthand. I was able to meet the youth involved, and experience the difference One Vibe was making in their lives. In the years since then, I have watched the organization grow, and had the great pleasure of performing at the 2017 Madaraka Festival at the EMP in Seattle. " Meklit Hadero - Singer, Composer, Musician, Cultural Activist, and Senior TED Fellow also featured in One Vibe Photo Book.

"I had the great privilege of performing at the Madaraka Festival in 2017 and I was struck by the amazing energy and excellent performances that all of the participating musicians brought to celebrate this great initiative," - Rocky Dawuni. Rocky is a Grammy nominated Ghanaian artist that is also featured in One Vibe Photo Book.

Young Generation Centre where One Vibe Africa is based in Kenya. In 1997 YGC was transformed from a compound full of sprawling semi-permanent houses into an orphanage home, which served thousands of children and youth until 2013 when One Vibe Africa was given the chance to transform it to the first creative hub that has now served over 800 youth and created over 20 full time jobs.

Photo of aspiring young models shot by New York photographer, Meg Stacker. Meg collaborated with One Vibe Africa to develop Piga Picha Project that inspires youth to tell their stories through photography.

Otibo was one of the first students who joined Piga Picha Project, which is an initiative One Vibe Africa developed with Meg Stacker. Piga Picha means take photo in Swahili. We use this initiative to encourage youth tell their stories through photography.

Road To Madaraka is a documentary covering the partnership of the youth from Kisumu, Nairobi and Seattle who are all working together to benefit marginalized youth from their communities. This initiative is backed by the partnership between One Vibe Africa and What's Good Studios.

Who We Are

Mission

Through creative cultural and innovative programs and events, we promote social welfare, and economic empowerment thereby lessening neighborhood tensions, preventing community deterioration, and preventing juvenile delinquency.

Vision

We are creating events, programs, and media for educating the general public about African culture, promoting the arts, innovation, enhancing international cultural and creative collaboration, and mentoring youth.

Our Global Partners

A Peek into our Past & Future

2008 Post Election Violence

Inspired by the events of the violence that caused over 1,000 deaths & 300,000 internally displaced persons. We organized Unite The People Concert at Kisumu Social Hall, which was the first public gathering after the violence and used the proceeds to feed displaced children at Young Generation Centre in Manyatta slum.

2012 Seattle, Washington

One Vibe’s founder moved to Seattle in 2010, and in 2012 we organized United The People Concert at Nectar Lounge in Seattle, WA to create awareness about the plight of youth in Kisumu.

2014 Madaraka Festival

In 2013 we used proceeds from United The People Concert in Seattle to develop an Education Music & Art Program (EMAP) to serve youth in Kisumu. By 2014 EMAP had served over 68 youth, which inspired us to organize Madaraka Festival at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), which helped us raise funds to continue EMAP and also create One Vibe Studio for music and audio recording in Kisumu as a means of generating income to sustain One Vibe Africa.

2017 Madaraka The Documentary

In 2015 we used proceeds from Madaraka Festival to fund EMAP, purchase filmmaking equipment to create One Vibe Films in Kisumu to enhance our income generating capacity through creating our own content and providing the same service to other customers. In 2015 we travelled to Kisumu with a team consisting of twenty filmmakers, creatives, artists from Seattle, Ghana, and Senegal to produce Madaraka The Documentary, which is a story about how communities can empower themselves through embracing their culture and collaborating with people from other cultures.

2022 Replicating Concept

Our current aim is to stabilize our operation in Kenya, and our events in Seattle to enable us to scale our model and replicate it to other communities in Africa that have similar needs to the youth of Kisumu, Kenya. We have been approached by communities in Botswana, South Africa, Malawai, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Liberia, and Nigeria. We did not know that our impact is already being felt that far. For now we hope to share the story of this concept through Madaraka The Documentary.

Contact Us

I became aware of Simon Okelo and the work that One Vibe was doing with the youth in Kisumu during one of my travels. As an African musician who has been dedicated to the importance of art and music in social development, I was extremely inspired by this effort and understood the long lasting impact this important work contributed to the empowerment of the local community. Simon and I became friends and I observed One Vibe grow and expand its work over the years, and many friends of mine within the artistic community including myself extended our support for One Vibe to enable it to grow its youth programs. I had the great privilege of performing at the Madaraka Festival in 2017 and I was struck by the amazing energy and excellent performances that all of the participating musicians brought to celebrate this great initiative.